The City Council's Committee on Cultural Affairs, Libraries and International Relations held a public hearing in February 2026 that was directly inspired by our recent Creative New York report.

The hearing, titled “Affordability in New York City’s Arts and Cultural Sector," was convened to address the findings and recommendations from our report published in December 2025, which revealed that the city’s cultural sector is facing serious new threats due to an affordability crisis that is hitting artists and creative workers especially hard. CUF’s editorial and policy director Eli Dvorkin was the hearing’s lead witness and detailed the threats facing New York City's artists, creative workers, and cultural nonprofits and provided ideas for how city government can respond.

Creative New York is the third edition of CUF’s comprehensive policy report on the city’s creative sector. The report finds the sector at a defining crossroads: its importance to the city’s economy and civic life has never been greater, yet an intensifying affordability crisis has led to stagnant job growth and an exodus of artists.

This hearing highlights CUF's body of work on the arts and culture sector including reports like Integrating Artists into NYC’s Affordable Housing Strategy, New York's Creative Spark: 10 Data Snapshot of the Arts Across New York State, and “Expanding Access to Advertising Careers.”